We've been sent some vintage photos from Carteret County, showing fires, trucks, and people from the 1950s and 1960s. Beaufort and Morehead City fire departments are featured, along with a couple blazes in Atlantic Beach. The latter might be before ABFD was formed. Only a couple dates and details are known. The Beaufort fire is on Front Street. Dig that ladder truck! The Morehead City Fire Department foam machine is operating at a drugstore on Arendell Street on June 4, 1970. The posed BFD personnel is 1955, and the "pirates" are BFD members in 1960, for the occasion of the first pirate invasion. Can anyone identify others? Images are courtesy of Jesse Chaplain. See all the great old photos.

Beaufort Fire is January 1952. Departments on scene were BFD, Morehead City, Newport, Cherry Point, and New Bern. The Beaufort ladder truck is a 1941 Dodge, built by firefighters. The town bought the truck and the materials. BFD members also built a 1948 Dodge with a Darley pump into a 500 GPM pumper. More pics coming.Legeros - 03/02/09 - 20:44

Additional photos have been added. The older man sitting on the older fire truck is Sam Picket, a member of Beaufort Fire Department for many years. He worked with town picking up trash with a horse and cart. During the day, if the fire whistle blew, he would unhook the cart, and take the horse to the fire station to get the hose wagon. He is pictured on a 1927 American LaFrance 1000 GPM pumper. The truck was destroyed when it caught fire on Aug. 4, 1966.

Three pieces of Beaufort apparatus are shown. A 1938 Dodge/Darley, 500 GPM, 200 gallon pumper. A 1941 Dodge ladder truck, with a 55-foot ladder. Built by firefighters, with materials and truck purchased by town. A 1948 Dodge with a 500 GPM Darley pump and 500 gallon tank. Also built by firefighters. Both trucks were built on Front Street, where the Maritime Museum presently sits.

The Morehead City pumper is an FWD, the same pumper that overturned and killed a driver on May 1, 1951, the day of its acceptance tests. Read more, and see an earlier picture here: http://www.legeros.com/ralwake/photos/we..Legeros - 03/03/09 - 22:24